I just don't know if I can do this

[JDS74]

Going to bed on time but not tired, is not good sleep hygiene.
It contributes to lying in bed awake and reinforcing the "Its OK to be in bed, masked up, and not going to sleep" habit.
Have you tried to wait until you are tired to go to bed? That helps the "I'm in bed, masked up, and going to sleep" Habit.
That's the one you need to get to.

Not getting any reasonable amount of exercise is generally not good for your health.
Can you start a schedule of moderate exercise every day? No need to try to get exhausted but start out by walking a mile in less than 20 minutes and doing more over time. Aerobic exercise will help your breathing and your heart and, eventually, your sleep habits.

[JCWarrior]

I won't lie, you describe me pretty well. I have a very bad lifestyle, in that not only do I work a sitting office job, but I generally do it in a very dark building. I work in visual effects, and offices tend to be kept dark for color accuracy. I've read before that lack of sunlight can cause problems with sleep patterns. I also live in Vancouver where you don't even see the sun for half the year.

I don't work out. In the summer I tend to cycle, but that's it. I would almost never say I feel "exhausted" when I go to bed. Generally I go to bed because its just time to go to bed and I don't feel up to doing anything else that day My job is mentally demanding, not physical demanding.

I'm in an office all day as well, although not dark. I find exercise to be critical to good sleep, for me. Try to get out and walk for 30-45 minutes like you're in a hurry. Get your breathing up and work up a little sweat. If you can do more than that (intensity, not time) then do so. Helps in so many ways.

There are days when I didn't get enough sleep the night before and am tired going home but I still make myself exercise. It's not always easy but I am always glad I did it. My exercise of choice is running but I run slow and use a "run-walk-run" method. For me it's 30 sec walk, 30 sec run and repeat for 3 miles. I do the run/walk/run primarily to minimize injury and keep my HR where I want it to be. The walk breaks really make running enjoyable for me as I don't feel beat up and like I'm killing myself.

I use an interval timer that beeps every 30 seconds so I don't have to look at a watch. If you consider this, be certain to start slow by building up your walking time/distance. Then begin to incorporate short, slow runs into the walk (i.e. 5 seconds, 10 seconds, etc). By buildng up slowly you are less likely to become injured and you will never feel like your killing yourself.

I have been increasing my intervals so I am running more but doing so very slowly and carefully. Running the entire time is not "required" to get the fullbenefits of 'running". I'm averaging about 35 minutes for my 3 mile runs.

No need to ever run if yoo don't ant too. Walking is an excellent way to get moderate levels of exercise. You will be suprised how good of a workout you can get if you really make an effort to walk like you're in a hurry.

The "right" shoes (not jus "good" shoes) are very important if your going to run. Go to a running store and get fitted by an expert.

Hope this helps!

[Hose_Head]

One thing you might want to try...

I noticed that you said you said you had to clamp down tight to get a seal

This sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but my experience, and lots of help from folks here, finally led me to fit the mask looser. Much looser. Then, when the air comes on, the silicon cushion billows out and makes a seal.

Can't hurt to try. And cheap to do.

JMHO

Unfortunately I have tried that, but as soon as I lie down on the pillow on my side, the mask gets pushed and the seal broken.

For side sleeping - make sure your mask hangs over the edge of the pillow.

The problem with that is then I can't sleep. I normally sleep with a long body pillow, and I like to smoosh down into it. I've obviously had to back off on that, but I still like lying in the middle of the pillow. I bought a memory foam pillow to try sleeping on that on the edge but all that does is add a new problem because I don't find that way of sleeping to be comfortable. The problem is i'm fighting 30 years of habit here.

I'm a little late to this discussion.

I'm a side sleeper too. I've found the Resmed Activa mask to be quite tolerant for side-sleeping. This mask is able to flex and move around a bit, making it harder to be dislodged if it's up against a pillow or bedding. It works best if not tightened down too much when you wear it. You might want to try it.

Also, a good hose-hangar can be helpful if you are not already using one. There's a number of good ones for sale at cpap.com. Their chief benefit is to reduce the weight of the hose off mask and to help keeping it from getting tangled with bedding, necks, arms and feet!

[Janknitz]

Those of us who "hang out" on computer and mobile devices at all hours tend to interfere with our melatonin production which disrupts sleep. This is a big problem for me because reading in bed used to help but now my reading is via a kindle app on my mobile, too. The light has a REAL effect on our brains and hormone production.

I got a cheesy pair of Amber goggles for cheap online which I wear from about 9 pm and I see a real change in that I'm sleepy and ready for lights out much earlier. It hasn't improved my ability to stay asleep yet, but it's still early in my trial.

Also, bright light in the morning is supposed to help hormone production. You might try replacing a light in the bathroom or kitchen with a full spectrum light bulb for early morning exposure.

[palerider]

Those of us who "hang out" on computer and mobile devices at all hours tend to interfere with our melatonin production which disrupts sleep. This is a big problem for me because reading in bed used to help but now my reading is via a kindle app on my mobile, too. The light has a REAL effect on our brains and hormone production.

there are also free apps available for android, windows and linux, (maybe for mac and ios too, don't know) that will change the color temperature of your displays.

https://justgetflux.com/
http://jonls.dk/redshift/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... free&hl=en

they all make displays 'warmer' (less blue) as the night goes on, easyeyes free you have to do manually, the others are automatic.